Dr Rossi and his sidekick Bruno to the Rescue
by TigerLily888
Summary: Emily and Hotch are having relationship problems and Dave tries to bring them back together with the help of his dog, Bruno. Written for the 'All the Colors of the Rainbow' challenge on CCOAC forum. Oneshot. Complete.


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**Thank you to my beautiful friend, Michelle, for reviewing this for me. You are absolutely incredible and I really appreciate all your help and comments.  
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**As always, I do not own anything to do with Criminal Minds and no infringement is intended.**

Knock knock.

Dave frowned and looked at his watch. It was 10.23 pm. Who could be at the door at this time of the night? He got up checked the security camera. Once he saw who it was, he quickly unlatched the chain and bolt and opened the door.

"Emily, what's happened, are you all right?" He took her arm and quickly drew her inside. Closing and locking the door behind them, he led her to the couch, concerned by the way she looked. She was pale, almost white, her eyes red and still damp with tears. She looked slightly dazed, as if in some kind of shock and Dave felt his pulse start to race. "Emily, tell me what's wrong, is Aaron okay?"

At the sound of Hotch's name she blinked and finally looked at Dave. "He...he's fine." Her voice was husky. "I'm sorry, I didn't know where to go. I didn't want to bother JJ at home, and Pene's away and –"

"Emily," Dave interrupted her, speaking calmly. He had never seen her so worked up. "It's fine, I'm glad you're here. But I can't help you if you don't tell me what happened."

Her lower lip trembled and she pressed her lips tightly together. "W..we had a huge fight. A really big one. Dave, I..I think Aaron wants a divorce." The last word came out as a whisper. And right there before him, one of the strongest, toughest, most capable women he had ever known, covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.

Dave leaned over and took her into his arms. As she sobbed into his chest, he wondered what the hell had happened. Everything had seemed fine when he saw them together in the cafeteria having lunch today. After they were married, they had started to have lunch together a couple of times a week when work permitted. He knew that for the last couple of months they hadn't had much time together outside of work since Hotch had essentially been acting in Strauss' position in addition to carrying out his usual tasks. But even with the work pressure, Hotch still seemed reasonably relaxed. Dave was glad that he had Emily to come home to at night. Very few women would have understood the horrors that they faced daily, things that most people would not have thought about, let alone experienced in their lifetime.

When Emily drew back, Dave pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and gave it to her. She wiped her cheeks and nose, which were now pink from her crying bout. "I..I'm sorry. I didn't mean to come here and cry all over you." She gestured towards his now damp sweatshirt. "I've always thought that women who cry for no reason were so annoying, and here I am. Serves me right for being judgmental."

"I'm pretty sure you were crying for a reason. And I'm more than sure that Aaron doesn't want to break up with you. He loves you Emily, you and Jack are everything to him. I've seen it with my own eyes."

She shook her head. "Maybe before this afternoon. Now, I'm pretty sure he hates me."

Damn, what had the argument been about to make her to say that? "Okay, you're going to come with me to kitchen while I get you a glass of water, or something stronger if you prefer, and then you're going to tell Doctor Dave here exactly what happened."

After Emily had a few sips of water, Dave was pleased to see that she had regained some of her composure and the colour that was now on her cheeks was no longer the result of her tears.

"What happened this afternoon, Emily?"

She placed her glass down on the dining table slowly, as if taking the time to gather her thoughts. She turned back to look at him, her blank faced professional persona in place. As if it was a shield against what she was about to say. "I was drying my hair in the bathroom when Aaron walks in, and the look on his face," she paused, her breath hitching, "I've never seen him look so angry. But he didn't shout, he just used this really, really cold voice and then my heart stopped when he showed me what he had found." She paused again, biting her lip. "He found my birth control pills. The pills that I started taking a month ago without telling him."

"Oh Emily." Dave's heart ached for them both. He knew how much Hotch was looking forward to having a child with Emily. He had confided in Dave that they had started trying four months ago. But apparently Emily had gotten cold feet without telling Hotch. And that, Dave knew, was what Hotch would have viewed as being biggest betrayal of all.

"I know, I know." She pressed her hand to her mouth as more tears welled up in her eyes. "I should have told him that I wasn't ready, that I was consumed by fear at the thought of having a child that would grow up to resent me because I wasn't a good mother. I mean, all I have to go on is my mother. And you know what a disaster my relationship with her is. I just couldn't tell him, Dave, he was so happy and every time we made love when there was a chance of conception, he would have this light in his eyes afterwards. And each time that happened I felt as if there were these four walls coming closer and closer towards me and I didn't have anywhere to escape. Oh God, what have I done?" she whispered, pain radiating from her eyes. "I've really, really hurt him, Dave. I don't think he's ever going to forgive me."

"Emily, I'm sure Aaron will forgive you. He understands what you're feeling and he's not going to blame you for doing what you did."

"No, I don't think he'll ever understand. I didn't even tell him why I went behind his back and went back on the pill. I know that he thinks that I lied when I told him that I was ready to start trying for a baby. I swear I was then, we were so happy together and things were going really well. But then reality started to set in and I started to panic." She took a shuddering breath to ward off a fresh wave of tears.

Dave sighed and reached across to cover her clenched fists with his hands. He could tell that she was too distraught and emotionally exhausted to even comprehend, let alone allow herself to believe what he wanted to say to her. So he decided to wait. Instead he said, "Come on, I've got a spare room and a spare toothbrush. Why don't you stay here for the night and we can talk in the morning."

Emily nodded.

As Dave lay in his bed that night, he knew that he had to do something to get them back together. Especially since these two friends of his were the most stubborn and headstrong people he had ever met. Once set on a course, it was nigh impossible for them to be shifted. And at the moment, Emily seemed to believe that Hotch had stopped loving her and never wanted to be with her again. He just hoped that Hotch would see beyond her action to the reasons behind it. When he cooled down, that is. Dave sighed. He was going to have to do some persuasive talking to a man who not only trains FBI agents in hostage negotiation, but who pretty much only spoke about his personal life on pain of death. And Dave thought his weekend was going to be quiet.

* * *

><p>Emily looked at herself in the mirror. Death warmed over would have been a compliment. She had no colour at all on her face, and there were still vestiges of smudged eyeliner around her eyes, which were puffy from her tears from the night before. Oh well, at least the team wasn't on call this weekend, so she didn't have to worry about looking decent. She trudged downstairs, keeping the thoughts of what happened yesterday at bay for the moment. There would be plenty more time to think about that later.<p>

Dave's house was magnificent. With its high ceilings, wooden floors and panelling, large bay windows and an immaculate garden, she felt like she had stepped onto the pages of Home Beautiful. It was nice to have money, although she shuddered at the thought of having to keep the place clean. Not that he had to worry about that with his regular cleaner. She walked into the kitchen, intent on finding herself some coffee.

Thank God, she breathed out, as she smelled the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. She was opening her third cupboard to locate a cup when she heard a rapid pitter patter of paws on the wooden floorboards. She turned around and saw a dog before her that defied expression. Its face was kind of squashed, and it had a longish body with short legs, almost like a dachshund. It was cute in an ugly sort of way, with the way the light lit up its pale tan coat and its chocolate eyes. The dog reached her and started to lick her toes enthusiastically, making Emily laugh.

She bent down and picked it up. "Hello there. You're very friendly! Yes you are." The dog licked her nose as if in affirmation. "I didn't know you lived here." It panted in her face and she laughed again when it tried to lick her mouth. "Okay, okay, you like me, I get it. Sorry buddy, I don't do dog kisses. I think you're going to need to wait for Dave."

"Ah, I see you've met Bruno." She looked up and saw Dave coming into the kitchen wearing a burgundy bathrobe over his navy and white striped pyjamas. "He seems to like you."

"Oh yes, that he does." She let the dog down and it immediately went over to Dave. Dave picked it up and spent a few seconds exchanging kisses with the dog while Emily looked on, amused. She never thought she would see this side of Dave. Heck, she never even knew he was a pet person, never mind owning a pet. So much for being a profiler.

After Dave let Bruno outside for his morning absolutions, he came back to the kitchen. Taking a sip of the coffee Emily had poured for him, he looked thoughtfully at her. "You know, there must be something about you that Bruno likes. He hardly ever takes to strangers. To be honest, I forgot about him last night, or I would have locked him up. He usually starts to growl and bare his teeth and it takes a long time to gain his trust. The only people I know for a fact he likes are babies."

"Okay..." She wondered where this conversation was going.

"I think you may well have misjudged how ready you are to be a mother, Emily."

She opened her mouth to protest, but Dave put up his hand to stop her.

"I'm not saying this to lecture you or change your mind. I'm just saying this as a friend who loves the both of your dearly. I think you should just talk to Aaron, Emily, and give him a chance. I will bet my last dollar that the thought of divorce has never even entered his mind because he loves you too much to even consider it. He's just hurt that you didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth, that's all."

The subject that had been eating at her sent a now all too familiar wave of nausea through her. The mere thought of their fight was enough to tighten her chest to the extent that she could barely breathe. She hated it when there was any conflict between them, even when it had to do with the most minor of things. As a result of last night's explosive encounter, she was sure she had walked away with some form of mild PTSD. "Thanks Dave. I really appreciate you putting me up for the night, and for your advice, but I just need to think about what I want to do next. And I don't know if I can see Hotch for a while. It's just...I'm just scared to," she finally admitted. She didn't know if she could handle it if she saw that look of cold anger on his face again. Another wave of nausea hit her stomach at the memory and she pushed her coffee cup away.

"All right." Dave's voice had gentled. "I've said my piece and I'll say no more for now. I've got a few errands to run this morning, so you have the house to yourself. The tv room is through there and there's cable, plus a cabinet full of DVDs, mainly westerns mind you. So if they're not to your taste, just stick to cable. There's some leftover lasagne in the fridge, so help yourself if you're hungry."

She nodded, grateful to have a friend like him. After he left the kitchen, she sighed heavily, staring out into the English style backyard, with its perfectly trimmed hedges, low lying bushes and cacophony of many different shades of flowers. It was only when the reds and pinks and creams and blues started to become a uniform haze before her eyes did she realised she was crying. Again. She would have bet her last penny that she had cried more in the last 18 hours than she had in the past year.

A familiar pitter patter of paws sounded behind her. She smiled faintly at Bruno and picked him up. As it lay panting happily against her chest, she stroked its head, oblivious to the teardrops dripping on his shiny coat. "What am I going to do, Bruno, what in the world am I going to do?"

* * *

><p>Dave pressed the bell next to the front door of the Hotchner residence. Half a minute later, the door opened to reveal Hotch's unsmiling countenance. He glared at Dave and Dave had to force himself not to smile. His friend was just too predictable. He wondered how Emily put up with this side of her spouse. She was much more the impulsive type, although not excessively impulsive. Dave was pretty sure Hotch won't have been able to handle that. On the other hand though, he did accidentally overhear a conversation between the females in his team and apparently Emily's impulsiveness in the bedroom was something his supervisor seemed to enjoy. His mouth twitched at the image of Hotch handcuffed to their bedposts.<p>

"Well, are you going to come in or just stand there smiling like an idiot?" Hotch finally asked in an irritated voice. He swivelled around and strode back into the house.

"Sorry, I wasn't sure I was welcomed going by the death glare on your face," answered Dave loudly as he followed him through the house. Emily and Hotch had bought a house together just before the wedding. It was a modest two-storey house in a quiet, established suburb, which meant that there were beautiful leafy trees surrounding the houses and along the street. More importantly, it was near a very good school which they planned to send Jack to in a year's time. The living areas were generously sized, and so were the bedrooms upstairs, but it had been the immediate homely, welcoming atmosphere that the Hotchners had fallen in love with. Dave thought the house fitted them perfectly. Which reminded him. He better get on with business.

Hotch had walked back into the kitchen and Dave saw that he had been in the middle of washing up a mountain of dishes.

"Surely you have a dishwasher."

"It's full," was the clipped reply.

Ri..ight. Obviously neither one of the adults on this household were keen housekeepers. He took a seat at the breakfast bar and watched as Hotch continued washing up.

"Emily stayed at my place last night."

"I know."

Okay, looks like he was going to be the one doing most of the talking. Which was fine by him. "Emily tells me that you had an argument last night."

"Dave, it's none of your business." Hotch didn't even look up as he steadily stacked the dishes in precise order on the drying rack. Dave idly wondered what he was going to do with the items that were not going to fit.

"You're probably right, but the fact that your wife is currently curled up on my couch, doubtless crying her heart out, makes it my business."

"I'm sorry if she's inconveniencing you. I'll pick her up when I'm done here," Hotch replied stiffly.

Dave hadn't missed the way his supervisor's shoulders had stiffened when he mentioned that Emily was crying. Just as he thought. The argument had been bad, but Hotch's feelings for her had not changed. "Aaron, you know that's not what I meant. You're both not just friends, you're family, so please, just indulge me for a moment, despite the fact that it really isn't my business to interfere."

Hotch stilled. Then, taking his gloves off, he turned to face Dave. The frown hadn't budged, and his jaw was tight with tension. "Just say what you have to say, Dave."

"I know why you're angry with Emily." His friend's lips parted but Dave quickly continued. "And you have every right to be. She told you she was ready to start a family with you but then she changed her mind and went back on birth control pills without telling you. I know how hurt you must feel right now, and to be honest, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably have reacted in a much more violent manner. But I want to make sure that you know that it wasn't a lack of trust that caused her to hide it from you. Tell me you know that."

Hotch shook his head in denial. "She couldn't have trusted me, Dave. She knows she can tell me everything. And as far as I know, she has. She told me about the abortion she had when she was 15 and she's revealed to me as much as she was allowed to about her time with the CIA. Why couldn't she tell me she didn't want to have a baby? It would have taken me some time, but I would have accepted it." He looked at Dave, eyes turbulent with emotion. "All I want, all I've ever wanted, is for her to be happy, after everything that she's gone through. I just want her to be happy."

Dave's heart ached to see the pain in his friend's eyes. Pain that was identical to that reflected in Emily's eyes last night. "I know, Aaron, I know how much you love her. And believe me, she loves you just as much. She's scared to death that what happened yesterday has somehow made you stop loving her. You know she's never been in a stable, long term relationship before this, and she thinks that this was enough to end it. I know it's not going to be easy, Aaron, but your relationship is worth fighting for. Emily is worth fighting for."

Hotch drew a deep, shuddering breath and tilted his head to look at the ceiling. After a long moment he looked back at Dave, his face once again in its habitual inscrutable expression. "You're right." To Dave's surprise, the faintest hint of a smile ghosted across his face. "So, tell me again, why are you a three time divorcee?"

Dave chuckled as he got off his chair. "Touché. You know the saying, do as I say, not as I do. You'll do well to keep that in mind." A thought popped into his head, which he then felt compelled to utter. "Stick with me, young Jedi, I have much to teach you." He didn't bother suppressing his laugh when Hotch stopped short in his tracks, giving him an are-you-possessed look.

"Okay, I really need to stop pairing you up with Reid," he muttered, shaking his head as they left the house.

* * *

><p>"Emily?"<p>

Dave, with Hotch trailing behind him walked into the house.

"In here," came the faint reply. Dave was right, Emily was in the tv room. When they were about 10 feet from the door to the room, she appeared in the doorway, Bruno standing guard next to her feet. Her smile of welcome dimmed when she saw Hotch. But worse still was the sudden pallor on her face. Dave knew immediately what was about to happen.

Luckily, so did Hotch and he leapt forward just in time to catch his wife as she collapsed in a faint.

"Here, lay her down on the couch." Dave watched anxiously as Hotch laid her down, propping her head up on a pillow. "I'll go get a damp towel."

When he came back, Hotch was sitting next to her, one hand holding hers and the other cupped around her jaw and neck. "Emily, sweetheart, wake up. Come on, wake up now so that I know you're all right. Emily."

Dave handed the cool towel to Hotch who gently dabbed at her cheeks and forehead. After a few minutes of this and further vocal encouragement by both males, her eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. Dave breathed out a silent sigh of relief.

Emily looked slightly dazed. "Wh..what happened?" she whispered.

"You fainted," answered Hotch, concern still evident on his face.

"No, I couldn't have. I never faint." Even though her voice was weak, she managed to sound militantly sure.

"I guess there's a first time for everything."

Dave suppressed a smile at his supervisor's dry reply. Everything was going to turn out fine. He could feel it. He quietly backed away, picking Bruno up and leaving the room to accord them some privacy.

* * *

><p>"Aaron?" Emily looked up at the dark haired man seated at her side. She loved him so much that the depth of her emotions overwhelmed her at times. She didn't know what she would do if he ever became tired of her. She had been so independent and self-sufficient for so long that she hated the fact that her happiness seemed to be completely hinged on this one person.<p>

"I'm here."

She stared up at him, not daring to believe the softness on his face. Did that meant he wasn't angry any longer? "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I know I really hurt you last night, and I'd do anything, anything at all to be able to go back in time and just tell you how I really felt."

"Was it because you don't trust me? You know you can tell me anything, Emily." His eyes gazed intently into hers. Funnily enough, his focussed gaze never made her feel uncomfortable. In fact, it always made her feel like she was the absolute centre of his attention, that she alone was his entire world, nothing else mattered.

"Oh _no_, I trust you Aaron, I trust you with my life and everything that I am. I was just...I just didn't want to hurt you. I thought I was ready when we agreed to start trying but then I just became more and more panicky each time until the point came when I didn't even feel like I could make love with you without this feeling of dread. I'm so sorry!" she cried out, pain ripping through her at the look of horror on his face.

"_Emily! God!_ Why the hell didn't you say something?" He took her hands in his and bent closer to her. "Sweetheart, I love you more than anyone, or anything in this world, with the exception of Jack, and I never want you to feel like you're trapped or so scared that you can't say anything because you'll hurt my feelings. Don't ever feel like that. Yes, there'll be times where my feelings will be hurt, but I'll get over it. You won't though, if you don't tell me how you really feel. And if I don't know what it is that's hurting you, I can't fix it." He swallowed hard. "You don't have to hide anything from me, Emily. If anything's bothering you, we can talk about it and between the two of us, we can sort it out."

"Okay," she tried to smile at him, feeling her lips tremble. "I guess I'm just scared that I'll turn out like my mother, and our baby will grow up to resent or hate me. I don't think I can deal with that if that happens, Aaron."

"Oh, baby." He shook his head at her. "Why do you think you would be a bad mother? In case you've somehow forgotten, you've been Jack's mom for over a year, ever since we moved in together. I have never seen you falter, not when you're showering him with hugs and kisses, or when you're dishing out some well-deserved discipline. He adores you, Emily, you know that."

She bit her lip. Why hadn't that occurred to her? She was so completely overtaken by her fear that she never even thought about that. She gazed into her husband's eyes. "I guess I'm already a mom, huh?"

"Yes, Mrs Hotchner. Top breaking news this hour: Emily Hotchner is a Mom."

She tried to frown at him but didn't succeed. "I can't believe that you managed to turn my debilitating fear into something that's totally inconsequential in five minutes." She felt the tight band across her chest ease, allowing her to breathe again.

"Your fears, or any other concerns, will never be inconsequential to me, sweetheart." He leaned down and kissed her. When he made to lift his head, she put her hands on his neck and stopped him. The kiss quickly became heated. Hotch finally drew away grinning. "I think we better stop before I take you on this couch. We don't want Dave to have to endure mental images of us in _coitus_ every time he comes in to watch one of his westerns." His tone was dry.

She burst out laughing as he helped her to sit up. "Aaron, in _coitus_, really? Honey, you really need to get over your reservations of using the word sex when it applies to us. I can't believe you can talk about the kinkiest of hardcore sexual acts when it's to do with work and you practically blush when you talk about us having _coitus_." She cocked her head to one side, thinking. "Actually, I'm starting to like this word. I might start using it instead when I talk about us having sex."

"What?" He paused in the act of shifting her legs off the couch. "You've talked about our bedroom activities with other people? Please tell me you're joking."

"Don't worry, it's only the girls." A wide smile broke out on her face when she realised her always composed husband and Unit Chief was actually speechless as he stared at her, shocked.

"Emily! What the hell were you thinking? I'm your supervisor! That's completely inappropriate. And I'm also JJ and Garcia's supervisor. What are they going to think?" He looked outraged. And embarrassed. A faint redness tinged his cheeks.

Emily thought he looked damned gorgeous. "Don't worry, honey, all they think of is that you're a tiger in bed and hung like a horse. Otherwise I'm sure you don't cross their minds at all." She stood up. Or more correctly, she tried to stand up. The room swirled around her.

Hotch caught her around the waist. "Whoa, easy."

She braced her hands on his solid chest, taking a few breaths while the room slowly settled back into its normal position. "Wow, first I'm nauseous, then I faint, then I'm dizzy. I think I might be coming down with something." She frowned when Hotch didn't answer immediately. She looked up to see a quizzical look on his face. "What?"

"Emily, when did you start taking the pill?"

"A month ago."

"And we tried for a baby, what, six weeks ago?" Emily didn't like the way his eyes had narrowed. She must be slow because she had no idea what he was getting at.

"Well, yes, but I got my period. I..." she stopped short. Did she get her period? She must have. She would have noticed, surely. Although that was the time the team had been in the middle of the urgent hunt for the sniper in San Francisco who had already shot 13 people. So maybe she hadn't noticed.

_Oh. My. God._ Her mouth slowly fell open. "Aaron, am I pregnant?"

He looked equally stunned, but a smile was slowly dawning. "Sweetheart, I think you're in a better position than I am to answer that question."

Her brain processes appeared to have frozen. Maybe she had been zapped by a phaser _a la _star trek and as a result her brain was completely stunned. "Uh..." was all she could say.

At that moment, Dave ducked his head in the door. "You kids okay?"

"Yeah, we think so," she heard Hotch answer. "Emily might be pregnant, but otherwise we're good."

"_Sti cazzi!_ Damn Aaron, you work fast," Dave teased, coming to give them both a hug.

"We're not sure yet, but Emily's missed her last period, been feeling sick and then she had the fainting episode." Hotch kept his arm around her waist as she slowly turned to look at Dave.

"Well, I'm no doctor, but it sounds like you're _incinta_, _bella_. Congratulations. It is congratulations, right?" He paused, looking at Emily.

She nodded, feeling nervousness and excitement churn within her. But to her surprise, those emotions paled in comparison to the huge wave of joy that was sweeping over her. A baby, she was carrying their baby! She imagined holding their baby in her arms, and just like that, any vestiges of fear she still had vanished. And it was all due to this wonderful friend of theirs. She stepped over and gave him a hug. "Thank you so much, Dave."

He hugged her back. "You're most welcome, _bella_. You know, you can call Dr Rossi anytime you have relationship issues. I'm always on call." A bark sounded next to them. "Oh, and so is Bruno." Dave chuckled, picking his dog up.

As they walked hand in hand down the driveway to their SUV, Dave called out, "Just so you know, I expect to be the godfather of this child!"

"Oh boy," Emily muttered under her breath to Hotch while they smiled and waved back at him. "What have I gotten this poor child into?"

_Fine_

**Please review if you can spare a moment.**** I'd love to hear from you.**_  
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